Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Miracle Beach

This is Miracle Beach, one of my favorites I used to catch pretty frequently on HBO around 2 in the morning in the early 90's. It seemed like this always came on right after Dream On. Why I was up at 2 in morning watching Dream On and Miracle Beach when I was 11, I don't know.

Miracle Beach is comedy about a hot lovelorn genie starring Dean Cameron, Ami Dolenz and Pat Morita. It was directed by Skott Snider (yes, with a 'K'), you may remember his work on Playboy's Video Centerfold: Playmate of the Year Reneé Tenison, and Playboy: Wet & Wild II. Miracle Beach has been out of print on VHS for a good 15 years and as of this post it has never been released on DVD anywhere in the world. Shame really.

The plot, as written by some dude on the IMDB:
"A romantically hapless young man (Scott) has his life changed when he finds the proverbial genie-in-a-bottle, in this case a very comely lass (Jeannie). With Jeannie granting wishes left and right, Scott soon has a fine house, a wonderful car, and a chance to impress the girl of his dreams. But is this the way to true happiness?"

By traditional standards, this is not a very good movie. However, for some reason I really find it to be an enjoyable, and dare I say sweet movie - terrible 90's fashion aside. (Dean, is that a shirt or a Jamaican flag?) I think if you enjoy slightly fantasy based comedies with likable leads and a bit of heart thrown in for good measure, or you just like Dean Cameron and Ami Dolenz you should at least get something out of this one.

While I'm here, I thought I'd plug a book some of you guys might want to check out. Simon, of the band Mary Shelley Overdrive has just published a collection of 16 pulp stories from the 1930's and 40's entitled Hideous Sexy: Giant Shock Show Vol. 1. For more info on the book, plus several others check out Penny Dreadful Books

He was kind enough to let me advertise my site in the book, so I thought it was only fair to return the favor and advertise the book here on the site. Plus, look at the cover, how could you not be intrigued? Readers of this site who are interested in purchasing a copy can get 15% Off by using the code NWSHAFU6 over at CreateSpace. Tell them Phelpster sent you, they'll know what that means.

26 comments:

Thanks for the shout out Phelpster! And wow, I've got no memory of Miracle Beach, even though I used to watch Dream On whenever I got the chance. Is that on DVD yet? And whatever happened to Brian Benben? It's like he dropped off the face of the earth.

Thanks for Miracle Beach, I don't ever remember seeing this one, gonna check it out. I love Dean Cameron. Also thanks for the info Hideous Sexy: Giant Shock Show Vol. 1, I just placed an order for it, cant wait to read it.

Miracle Beach is one of my favorites! It's so light and carefree. I'm definitely a sucker for movies where the poor schlub gets involved in a life makeover due to magic or epic happenstance. See the James Belushi films for further reference as well.

Speakig of Cinemageddon, there is a hd-rip of Miracle Beach there now too, which looks gorgeous.

Why Miracle Beach hasn't hit dvd yet is one of life's great mysteries.

Mission - Sweet fancy Moses, thank you! I don't know how I missed that. I'm scared to death of my ratio over there dropping any lower so I don't really visit all that often, I probably should though. I'm downloading it now (52m 21s left!) and I plan on making a nice DVD of it in about an hour here. Thanks a lot for pointing that out to me. I should probably replace what I posted with the HD rip here soon.